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Education Notebook: 'How are you doing this sunny afternoon?'

It was sunny Tuesday. A bit brisk in the temperature department, certainly, but sunny, bright and brilliant.

Sitting on my chair in the office after returning from my lunch break was a large envelope with the return address of Bowie Elementary.

Right away, my face was shining as bright as the sun outside. I knew what was inside.

The week before, while attempting a week of vacation after what had been a hectic couple of months — back-to-school stories and a failed first out-of-town trip when the car I was in hit a deer on the way to Denver — I visited Bowie to read during its annual Reading Rodeo event.

Inside my envelope was some fan mail, or so I hoped. Sure enough, 13 handwritten letters from Kimberly Wright's third-grade class, held together by a single paper clip, slid out onto my desk.

Each letter generally reads the same, with the writer telling me about the beautiful sunny day they're experiencing (the letters were written Oct. 18) and asking how I'm doing.

Kids, the answer is I'm doing much better after reading your letters. And I read each and every one of them.

From there, many of the writers talked about their favorite part of either my visit to their classroom or the books I read that morning. I read both "Hooray for Diffendoofer Day," by Dr. Seuss, and "Cinderhazel: The Cinderella of Halloween," by Deborah Nourse Lattimore, before answering some of their questions.

Luke, for instance, told me his favorite part of my visit to the classroom was when I answered the question he asked: "What job do you do?" Luke, I'm a Jedi master (not really).

Jaden wrote that he enjoyed the part in "Diffendoofer" when the teacher jumped on the trampoline high into the sky. Ariana said she enjoyed the part where Cinderhazel met The Prince in "Cinderhazel."

Apparently, I made the experience fun for them. Kalia asked me, at the end of her letter when I would be coming back.

Kalia, that depends on your teacher. I'd love to read more stories to you, but even a Jedi master can't do it all of the time (even though I'd do it if it actually paid the bills).

This was the third year I participated in Reading Rodeo, a program organized by Altrusa International of Abilene members. I have never had a bad experience, so let me take this opportunity to thank everyone involved.